Long Distance – Part 5

There
has been a lot of interest and feedback from readers about the recent patrickWeb
stories about "long
distance". Most are saying, "where can I get it?",
but others are saying "not
so fast". This is understandable given that we are beginning to go through
a very disruptive period with regard to telephony. We are 5% of the way into
what is in store for us.  One concern was raised by Tony Paulson who pointed
out that 911 service is not available via the new SIP services. Another issue
is being able to retain your existing phone number and avoid having to have two
phone systems in your home — one connected to the local phone company and another
plugged into your cable or DSL router. Thanks to Bob Ishida in Tokyo for telling
me about how Yahoo! Japan Broadband has
solved both of these problems in Japan.  (read
more)

Linux on the Desktop – Part 1

The
introduction of the new version of Microsoft
Office has me thinking a lot
about Linux for my desktop. Microsoft has
performed many technical fetes in their software. Many of the features in Windows
XP and Office are impressive and many
are even intuitive and easy to use. However, many features are not intuitive
or easy and worse yet impose decisions upon the user and at times border on harassment.
We all have our favorite examples of Windows/Office frustrations and I won’t
bore you with mine. Microsoft is taking
security issues seriously but I believe that they believe that the answer to
achieving better security is to make the world "windows
everywhere".
I feel the noose tightening. One path to freedom is Linux.
More and more servers at the world’s e-businesses are running Linux and the
open source community continues to make major progress on scaleability, reliability,
and manageability. The desktop is another story. Microsoft dominates the desktop
more strongly than any product in any market that I am aware of. I decided to
begin the journey toward Linux for my desktop, to learn more about Linux,
and see how far I can get. I’ll be writing about my experiences here on patrickWeb.
At IBM, there are thousands of desktop Linux
users, but I would have to say that they are not average users by any means.
I have confidence in the future of desktop Linux, but I do have some questinos
and I intend to explore them — and also learn from the experience of others.
(read
more).

Do You Remember When?

It
doesn’t seem possible, but this weekend marked the fortieth reunion for the
Class of 1963
of Salem High School in Salem, New
Jersey. It was really nice
to see my former classmates and renew fond memories of our shared past. Salem
is a rural area of southern New Jersey and the high school is small. Consensus
was that our graduating class was approximately 130 students. The organizing
committee sent out an information form and just 51 filled them out. They were
then compiled into a nicely done program booklet. It was nostalgic and interesting
to read the forms.  (read
more)

Nothing Cold about Internet Connectivity In Iceland

Reykjavik,
Iceland may soon become the first city in which every home is connected to
the Internet with fiber optic cable. While many in the world still
have analog dial-up connections or no connections, Reykjavik is about to
take a quantum leap. According to Gudjon
Mar Gudjonsson,
a consultant in the broadband
industry who lives there, the icy capital city of Iceland has
an unsurpassed fiber infrastructure. Apparently, the city’s utility company
and the formerly state owned telecom operator are competing to build what
may be the world’s first city with "Fiber-To-The-Home " for every
one of it’s households. The full story will be presented at a conference
– Digital
Reykjavik — sometime before yearend. Gudjon saysthis time of the year
is a wonderful time to visit our Iceland. You can check the forcast below.

Weather
forecast for Iceland
patrickWeb
stories about Internet Technology

What Goes Around, Comes Around

"What Goes Around,
Comes Around" is an old saying. Blogging is making it more real than
ever. On August 15 I published a short
story about ENUM. A week or so ago, Ali Farshchian at CircleID wrote and
asked if I would mind if they were to republish the story. I was happy to share
the story and so it appeared in new clothing on CircleID a couple of days ago.
Michael at slashdot.org posted an excerpt
of the story this morning on slashdot.
Later in the day the ITU (International Telecommunicatoins Union) posted an excerpt
of the slashdot excerpt! What Goes Around Comes Around.  (read
more)

Who Knows Who Knows

I
have been fortunate over the years to have spent
a lot of time with journalists. I consider them colleagues and
have been able to maintain contact during my "e-tirement". Journalists
are very focused on the issues and talking with them keeps me on my
toes! They ask tough questions that really make me think. The In
The News page
lists the stories that refer to the conversations I have had. The primary way
I communicate is through the weblog which you are reading. Occasionally,
an editor will read one of my stories and ask to "re-print" it on
their site. I always agree to do this assuming the appropriate cross links.
The most recent case was the story
about convergence.
It has just been "re-printed" in CircleID.
CircleID Network describes itself as a "unique collaborative hub that
shares the control of its content with the community it serves". They
have an interesting model. (read
more)

Energetic Music to Love

The Ridgefield
Symphony Orchestra gave the first concert
of it’s 2003-2004 season. Entitled Energetic Music to Love, the opening concert
started with a short, lively seductive theme from a "secret
marriage" by Domenico
Cimarosa.Then, Aaron
Rosand,
considered by many to be the supreme master of the violin, thrilled the audience
with his stunning performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D. Maestro
Sidney Rothstein used the power and beauty of the Brahms Symphony No. 1 to
end the opening concert with high momentum toward the concerts to come.

Classical
Net
favorite
Concerts page

The Face

Dean Koontz has written more than forty novels and many
have been #1 bestsellers. In addition to being prolific, he is incredibly creative
and imaginative. HIs most recent novel, The
Face, is incredibly imaginative,
exciting, and at times gripping. It is about a deranged professor who is seeking
anarchy. Part of his plan is to kidnap and torture the son of a famous movie
star. The intricacies of the plot would be hard to imagine, but not for Dean
Koontz. One of the characters in the story gets killed but then disappears
from the morgue and reappears in various scenarios. (read
more)

Airline Woes

I
look forward to the day when I can write a story about how great airline
websites are. It is true that airlines have a complicated business
and are under enormous financial pressures — that is why I have tried
to be understanding about some of the frustrating experiences that I have
had. My level of sympathy dropped yesterday
when I received a letter from American Airlines saying
my Admirals
Club membership
was coming up for renewal. It didn’t bother me that they now charge $10 per
baggage tag instead of giving you a free set every year. People don’t need
a new set every year — and some people belong to more than one airline club
and get more than one set per year. Giving away fancy luggage tags annually
was a bad business policy all along. I don’t even mind the new $50 late
registration fee. Some people probably let their membership lapse and then
renew it the next time they need to visit a club, thereby saving money for
the intervening period. It is not unreasonable for the airline to impose
a fee in this case. What I do mind is the method of renewal.  (read
more)

Blooming Grove

Columbus
Day was an incredibly beautiful one — blue
sky, warm but not too hot, and a nice breeze. The Blooming Grove Hiking Trail
was our destination in pursuit of the Blooming
Grove Hiking Trail geocache.
The trail was in the Delaware
State Forest in Northeast Pennsylvania. The cache was a relatively new
one, having just been placed on 9/21/2003. The terrain was mostly flat but
very rocky. There were a couple of streams to cross. The cache was well protected
in an ammo can and had many things in it including a bungee
cord, playing cards, slinky, 12
pc bit set, flash light, 4-pak AA batteries, nail file, disposable camera,
Handi-wipes, bug repellents, and the geocache log book. We left a repelling
clip and took the nail file. It would have been nice to hike
the whole trail system at Blooming Grove but time did not permit. Mainly because
we got lost.  (read
more).